![‘Ella McCay’ – James L. Brooks Returns to Directing 15 Years Too Late [Review]](http://18.211.146.234/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Ella-McCay-Review-1280x640.png)
Ella McCay is hitting theaters this holiday season, and it marks director James L. Brooks’ first feature film in 15 years. Known for romantic dramedies with biting wit, Brooks’ latest project fails to live up to his great works such as Broadcast News and As Good as It Gets. The new film takes place in 2008, but it also feels like it was written in 2008. Despite a charming cast and some heartfelt moments, Ella McCay can’t escape its outdated themes and saccharine execution.
Emma Mackey plays the film’s titular character, a young lieutenant governor. She is set to take over the role of governor when Bill (Albert Brooks) accepts a cabinet position. Before she can take on her dream job, Ella must face an impending scandal and her unbalanced family.
Ella’s troubles are laughably quaint by today’s standards. While that could be a nice bit of escapism under the right circumstances, the film isn’t strong enough to justify its antiquated story.
2008 Politics in 2025
Times are tough in the real world, and we could use a little more sweetness on our screens. However, when such pleasantries are centered on American politicians, one can’t help but wonder if the filmmakers are living under a rock.
If Ella worked in any other field, her journey may have been an easier pill to swallow. It’s hard not to notice that her job-related transgressions wouldn’t even be considered news by today’s standards. We’re living in a time when authoritarianism is on the rise in the United States. In the real world, the President can openly harass women, call fellow government officials slurs, and be convicted of over 30 felonies. In Ella’s world, having sex with your own husband and dealing with a $7,000 bribe are seen as career-ending scandals. Perhaps if this movie had come out in 2008, it would feel a little less ridiculous. In 2025, audiences have come too far and have seen too much to stomach such mild actions having real consequences.
Even if Ella’s issues felt relevant, no other parts of Ella McCay are particularly strong. The writing is over-sentimental and unoriginal. The emotions felt by Brooks’ past characters were passionate and genuine. In Ella McCay, they are flat and uninspired. Even Hans Zimmer’s score feels recycled and placid.
As for the cast, they are doing their best with what they’re given. Mackey is a strong lead, but her character is borderline unlikable. She’s got a drive similar to Parks and Rec‘s Leslie Knope, but instead of having infectious energy, she’s bland and unapprachable.
Family Melodrama
Ella’s personal struggles are more relatable than her work troubles, but the family in Ella McCay isn’t exactly exciting to watch. Ella is very close with her aunt, Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), who plays a major role in the film. Curtis is effortlessly engaging and quippy, but her purpose is solely to be a sounding board for Ella. It would’ve been infinitely more interesting to follow this cool, older lady who owns a bar. Don’t let the movie poster of smiling, famous faces fool you. This is not an ensemble film; it’s Ella’s movie. Most of those happy faces only exist in relation to her. If only her life were more interesting!
There’s also Ella’s estranged father, Eddie (Woody Harrelson), who sufficiently sucks as a person. He cheated on Ella’s mother (Rebecca Hall) when Ella was young, and is trying to make amends for selfish reasons. While that is a perfectly good reason to hate your father, the movie treats Ella’s past as being infinitely more catastrophic. She undoubtedly had a sad childhood, but she was also clearly taken care of. Her family had money, she had an incredibly nurturing aunt, and a brother she loved. Her past shouldn’t be dismissed, but Ella talks about her unhappy childhood in a disproportionate way. On one hand, it’s relatable. We all have past traumas we hold on to. On the other hand, it’s abnoxious as a frontloaded character trait.
Freakish Flashbacks
Ella McCay is also hindered by some of the most egregious-looking flashbacks ever put to film. Mackey is in her late 20s in real life, so playing 16 and 34 in one movie isn’t the craziest age discrepancy, but it’s enough to elicit pause. She’s supposed to be a teenager in the above photo, but bangs can’t hide a decade of life.
Meanwhile, Harrelson is being aged down in the flashbacks with Hall playing his wife. The wig they slapped on him only makes their 20-year age gap more noticeable. Ella is also significantly older than her brother, which makes the family look confusing. In the first flashback, Ella looks like her brother’s mother, her mother looks like her sister, her father looks like her grandfather, and her aunt looks like her grandmother.
There’s another flashback featuring Jack Lowden as Ella’s husband, Ryan, when they were in high school. Lowden is 35 years old. Watching him play a teenager is like watching Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp without the laughs. It’s all unbelivably jarring for a scene that didn’t particularly need to be there. The movie wants you to dislike Ryan, but the only clue given from this early scene is that Helen doesn’t like him. He seems otherwise goofy and fun, which, in theory, is a good balance for someone as serious as Ella.
Red Flags
Once you catch up and realize Ryan isn’t a great person, you start to root for Ella a little more. Unfortunately, Ryan is not the only man in the movie to give us pause. Ella’s brother, Casey (Spike Fearn), is the only character who gets their own little story outside of Ella’s world. At first, you’re captivated by Fearn. He plays Casey with great depth, and the brother/sister relationship is the most interesting dynamic of the movie. Then Casey ends up taking things too far.
Casey is a math genius who hasn’t left his house in over a year due to a breakup. When he eventually gets up the nerve to see his ex, Susan (Ayo Edebiri), you’re initially cheering for him. But he turns erratic, and becomes one giant red flag. For some reason, the movie wants you to think he’s endearing, but it’s deeply uncomfortable to watch. It’s surprising that Edebiri, a notoriously cool and progressive person, would agree to play a young woman who seems enamoured by such disturbing behavior. Both Fearn and Edebiri are strong performers, but everything coming out of their mouths in the third act of this film is perplexing.
Limited Holiday Options
The biggest thing Ella McCay has going for it is that it’s one of the few simple and “nice” movies you can catch on the big screen this holiday season. It’s at least a step up from the Hallmark holiday drivel that’s put out in droves this time of year, and the cast is undeniably stacked. Kumail Nanjiani deserves a shoutout for his performance as Trooper Nash, Ella’s driver and security. He has a comforting presence you want this time of year. It’s also nice to see Julie Kavner in a live-action role again. She serves as the film’s narrator, and her iconic Marge Simpson voice remains captivating.
There’s not much sauce behind Brooks’ new film, but there’s still an audience for it. If you take your moms and grandmas to see Ella McCay for Christmas, they’ll probably have a wonderful time.
Ella McCay was written and directed by James L. Brooks, and hits theatres on December 12th. The film stars Emma Mackey, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jack Lowden, Kumail Nanjiani, Ayo Edebiri, Julie Kavner, Spike Fearn, Rebecca Hall, Albert Brooks, and Woody Harrelson.
For more Reviews, make sure to check back to That Hashtag Show.
That Hashtag Show
